CHART OF THE DAY: Home Prices Climbed At The Fastest Rate Since May 2006

National home prices including distressed sales were up 7.4
percent year-over-year (YoY) in November, the biggest increase
since May 2006. This is according to
CoreLogic's latest home price report. On a month-over-month
(MoM) basis, prices were up 0.3 percent.

What's more, the geographical distribution of home price
increases was strong, with all but six states posting annual
increases.

“For the first time in almost six years, most U.S. markets
experienced sustained increases in home prices in 2012,” said
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic in a press
release. “We still have a long way to go to return to 2005-2006
levels, but all signals currently point to a progressive
stabilization of the housing market and the positive trend in
home price appreciation to continue into 2013.”

Here are some details from the report:

Including distressed sales, the five states with the biggest
home price increases were Arizona (+20.9 percent), Nevada
(+14.2 percent), Idaho (+13.8 percent), North Dakota (+11.3
percent), California (+11.1 percent).

Including distressed sales, the five states that saw home
prices decline the most were: Delaware (-4.9 percent), Illinois
(-2.2 percent), Connecticut (-0.5 percent), New Jersey (-0.5
percent) and Rhode Island (-0.3 percent). Ex-distressed sales
only Delaware and Alabama reported decreases in home
prices.

Nevada was the state that saw the largest decline in home
prices from its peak at -52.9 percent.

The forward looking December home price index including
distressed sales are projected to rise 7.9 percent YoY and
decline 0.5 percent MoM because of a seasonal slowdown.
Ex-distressed sales home prices are set to rise 8.4 percent YoY
and 0.7 percent MoM.